Marketing, Retail | featured news

J.C. Penney Co.’s transformation team started to unravel on Monday. Penney president Michael Francis was fired after only eight months as the No. 2 executive at the Plano-based department store chain. Francis’ abrupt departure appears to be another corrective step from CEO Ron Johnson, who recently acknowledged that Penney’s marketing message has confused shoppers.

So strong was the antibusiness sentiment for the first Earth Day in 1970 that organizers took no money from corporations and held teach-ins “to challenge corporate and government leaders.” Forty years later, the day has turned into a premier marketing platform for selling a variety of goods and services, like office products, Greek yogurt and eco-dentistry.